Wales Women take on Italians

22 February 2008 11:08

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Wales Women head coach Jason Lewis has made brought in new two new faces and made three positional changes to the side that beat Scotland 23-6 for the Six Nations clash with Italy on Sunday, (Taffs Well, 1pm).

Louise Horgan has been replaced in the front row by her sister Claire who starts at tighthead with Jenny Davies moving to loosehead.

Jenny Doyle replaces Nicola Evans in the backrow, with Doyle starting on the blindside and Catrina Nicholas moving to open side flanker.

Outstanding forward Jamie Kift has returned from knee surgery in time to gain a place in the 22.

Lewis said, "Obviously, we were very pleased with the win against Scotland as the team knew it was a must win game having lost heavily to England.

"They rose to the challenge and secured a decisive victory which was the biggest ever winning margin against the Scots.

"However, despite the improvement, we didn't quite perform to the best of our ability in the second-half. We could and should have scored a lot more points, but lacked the necessary composure to capitalise on our dominance of the game.

"As a squad we are now back on track for our Six Nations' objectives but that comes with added pressure to maintain the momentum we generated in the win over Scotland.

"We are looking forward to the game against Italy and we hope to build on our previous success. If we produce a composed, controlled performance, and continue to improve, we should have the beating of Italy.

"Another win would give us some much needed confidence for the away trip to Ireland. The Irish are a much improved side this year and there is little doubt that they will provide formidable opposition at home in Dublin."